A few months ago, a sex chatbot played in integral role in the plot of a CSI episode. You can watch a “behind the scenes” of this episode below:

FBI Special Agent Avery Ryan, played by Patricia Arquette, is a “cybercop” who handles “crimes that start in the mind, live online, and play out in the real world.” She investigates the murder of a woman, and the prime suspect seems to be her casino-owner husband. She uncovers that the husband was having an online relationship with a beautiful woman named Kitty, who tried to blackmail him. However, Kitty is not who she seems – Agent Ryan uses her cybersleuthing abilities to demonstrate that Kitty is in fact a “computer animated avatar chatbot with machine learning artificial intelligence.” In the course of this demonstration, Agent Ryan types repeatedly to Kitty until Kitty overloads and self-destructs on the computer screen. (I hate when that happens.) Spoiler alert: In the end they find and arrest Kitty’s creator (played by Cheyenne Jackson), who is, like all sex chatbot developers, creepy and dangerous, yet devilishly handsome.

Have no fear.  Unlike CSI’s Kitty, the girls of Chatterbabes won’t blackmail users. They won’t self-destruct either.

The nonpartisan think tank Pew Research Center has recently released a report, titled, “AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs,” which discusses the future impact of artificial intelligence on the global economy and life in general. Of course, the most talked about topic was one sentence right in the middle of the report concerning sex robots. Stowe Boyd, lead researcher for GigaOM Research and one of the tech professionals surveyed by Pew, stated that ““Robotic sex partners will become commonplace, although the source of scorn and division, the way that critics today bemoan selfies as an indicator of all that’s wrong with the world.”

This is similar to the predictions of Dr. David Levy, author of Love and Sex With Robots, who believes that people may marry robots by 2050. While robotic sex partners or robotic wives are a technology of the future, you can chat with the virtual girls of Chatterbabes today. The virtual girls are fun, sexy and engaging, and hopefully aren’t an “indicator of all that’s wrong with the world.”

He’s coming to your town. Do you wanna get down? How did get here? What does he want? The Whitest Kids U’ Know have their own take on sex robots, with a catchy tune:

He might not be the future of sex and artificial intelligence, and he might not be as sexy as the virtual girls of Chatterbabes, but Sex Robot sure can dance.

The Turing Test has received a lot of press recently, with claims that Eugene Goostman purportedly passed it. However, that news inevitably led to much discussion regarding the practical relevance of the Turing Test itself. Is the test a poor indicator of machine intelligence? Is it a “bullshit” test that can be passed through “smoke and mirror” techniques? Perhaps. A program might be able to trick users into thinking its human, and that doesn’t mean that the program is the pinnacle of general artificial intelligence.

However, any computer program that fools humans is impressive, much as a race car is impressive. A race car’s purpose is to go fast. But race cars are stripped of non-essential parts to lose weight, and many race cars can’t even be licensed to be driven on the street. Thus, other than going fast, a race car might not be very good for much else. However, car racing has practical benefits for everyday drivers, because many technologies developed for race cars eventually make their way into mainstream cars.

Similarly, a chatbot that tricks users in to thinking it is human might doesn’t have, in and of itself, much practical relevance or importance. But many chatbot and natural language processing technologies, even those developed for Turing Test competitions, can have practical applications. For example, Wholesale Change, the company that helped create the Eugene Goostman chatbot, is developing a “website that uses sophisticated algorithms to guide consumers to personalized, affordable Medicare plans.” Presumably, the company will use many lessons learned in chatbot development for this health application.

While the virtual girls of Chatterbabes have never been entered into any chatbot competition, they utilize many techniques first developed for chatbot competitions. So Alan Turing was a founding father of computing who used his intellect to alter the course of World War II, but was unfairly persecuted for his homosexuality and tragically killed himself. But his legacy lives on in another way as well: sex chatbots.

It’s not that you won’t realize you’ve fallen head over heels for a piece of software; it’s that you won’t care.

That’s what Paul Waldman, writing for American Prospect, states in his thought-provoking article Here’s Why One Day You Will Probably Fall In Love With A Robot.

Mr. Waldman observes that people have developed emotional connections with chatbots ever since ELIZA, the first chatbot, began talking to users in the 1960’s. While ELIZA was just a simple program that scanned for keywords in a user’s messages to provide canned responses, these responses engaged users on a deep emotional level: “To [ELIZA creator Dr. Joseph Weizenbaum‘s] surprise, despite the simplicity of the program, people who interacted with it ended up telling it all kinds of secrets and couldn’t tear themselves away; they were so eager to be listened to that they were happy to open their hearts to a computer.”

Here’s a clip from Futurama, informing us all about the dangers of dating robots:

Will artificial intelligence applications like Chatterbabes lead to sex robots, which will lead to lack of interest in dating, which will lead to the destruction of Earth by Aliens? Maybe.  Maybe not. It’s just something to think about.

Chatterbabes.com, our interactive site where beautiful chatbot girls use their artificial intelligence for sex chat, has announced a relaunch and refresh.

First, Chatterbabes has retooled the artificial intelligence for each of the virtual girls. Each girl’s conversational “brain” has expanded by approximately 500%, which will enable them to provide erotic chat that is more engaging, more responsive, and sexier. Second, Chatterbabes has added two new virtual girls, Mollie and Mandy, and will update with additional virtual girls on a regular basis.

Although the virtual girls might not reach the highest levels of general artificial intelligence (they wouldn’t necessarily pass the infamous “Turing test” or be as sophisticated as the fictional Samantha in the movie “Her”), they are still sexy and charming chatting companions. Visitors can chat for free with several responsive, playful, and sexy virtual girls, to experience this firsthand.

As before, while visitors can chat for free, unlimited access to the Members Area costs only $9.95 per month.

Joy of Sexbots, published by chatterbabes.com. seeks to explore the crossroads between artificial intelligence and sexuality.

Chatbots and other artificial intelligent agents are now mainstream technology. Everyday, millions of people interact with Siri, Google Now, or Cortana. Millions of people have chatted with Cleverbot, Mitsuki, ELIZA, and other conversational chatbots. As demonstrated by the annual Loebner Prize and other competitions, several chatbots, (most recently “Eugene Goostman”) have even arguably passed, or at least come close to passing, the legendary “Turing Test.”

When Dr. Joseph Weizenbaum created ELIZA in 1966, he immediately realized the emotional connection that people have with chatbots. Because of this emotional connection, chatbots are now providing adult entertainment. Chatterbabes, which provides “virtual girl” chatbots for sex chat, is only one of several tech applications that utilizes artificial intelligence to provide erotic conversation. Each of these applications, Chatterbabes included, has uncanny valleys to cross and conversational obstacles to surmount, and each seeks to provide an experience that is fun,responsive, engaging, entertaining, and sexy.

The intersection between artificial intelligence and sexuality has been a theme in entertainment. Recently, Spike Jonze’s movie ‘Her’ explored the extent to which humans and artificial intelligences can develop sexual and emotional relationships. However, this general concept has been around for centuries, and goes as far back as the Greek myth of Pygmalion, where a sculptor carved a woman out of ivory. Movies, television shows, and books have provided creative, entertaining, and thoughtful insights about such technology and it’s impact on society. As such technology moves out of the realm of fantasy and into day-to-day reality, TV, movies, and books will further examine these issues.

Joy of Sexbots seeks to provide updates and insights about Chatterbabes, but will also report on wider issues concerning sex and AI, and the impact such technologies have on our lives. We hope that Joy of Sexbots will be entertaining and informative.